I must have special powers or something, that's why bullies are afraid of me?
You ask what I would do? If someone wants to pay hundreds of dollars/euros/whatevers to be able to win a duel against me every 48h (actually it's 72h), I would laugh my ass off. Then, when they make this investment, I would put in a little effort and spend 1 energy point every now and then and KO myself, to make their REAL money go to waste. Hey, I am not a dueler, having 2-3 wins and 1000 losses makes no difference to me.
Or maybe I would do what I already did a few times over the last 6 years - reskill and fill them with lead. They can't buy that many SP/AP to be able to easily KO me if I am skilled for dueling them.
And PvE or PvP question? I don't agree. But, let's be it your way. It's a PvE with PvP content. You want PvE only? Then don't play a game with PvP content, or if you chose to play it - don't complain about PvP component. It's been a major part of the game since the first day, and if you want to ignore that, then learn to accept the consequences. Or, put in that little effort, that tiny, microscopic 1 energy point every 2 days or so, and attack someone and be duel free for the next 72 hours and go pick berries or lead a trading office. Or go and attack a fort and tell people how you want to opt out of the PvP part of the game.